A Playground For Customization Enthusiasts
My father-in-law who lives in England is Obsessed with the West Coast Customs show on TV. I've never seen it, but have seen the odd commercial for it. Since it's just a few miles from where I live, we decided to take him down to the actual shop and have a look around!
Note: This is a re-post from 2019 with updated text. Perhaps more folks will get to enjoy it this time round?
This day was pretty packed for us. Our plan was to go to West Coast Customs, do a tour, and then head down to Hollywood and sit in the audience for the Late Late Show with James Corden.
Amanda is famously late for everything, therefore making me late, so I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to actually do everything that we set out to do! This was a record breaking day for sure.
The actual shop is in no way just some Hollywood set made out to look like a real business. These guys are hard working and incredibly busy. They have had to hire a couple of guys to do tours now that it has become so famous, which is good for them as long as people don't get in the way of the workers.
I was actually surprised that we were able to go on the work floor and look at everything that they are working on. It was really funny because they aren't allowed to tell you who the vehicles belong to because they're all celebrities. But since celebrities are so vain, it was easy to tell. Especially the rappers. They tackily have their names embroidered in various spots on the fabric.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures of cars that are currently being worked on. I guess there is some fear that people will freak out if they know that Justin Bieber's car is in the building.
We were, however, allowed to take photos of all the cars in the showroom. Most of these cars were on loan by Will-I-Am. I have no idea if I wrote that correctly.
Apparently Will designed all of these cars. They looked like full sized plastic cars to me, but were very cool nonetheless.
The full sized Mario Kart was pretty awesome. I imagine that it was built for a specific person, but now simply lives in the showroom.
I have wanted one of these bad boys for years. Even after they stopped making them in favor of the new sedans and such. Maybe someday! We will need some serious crypto mooning.
The rims are further evidence that this is indeed a fully operational shop. I didn't dare ask for prices on anything. I am sure that it is all massively out of my price range. To be fair, I haven't wanted any bling on my car since the 90s.
On our way out, Amanda, Arthur and I signed the visitors guest book. That was kind of an interesting touch to have at a body shop. Well, I suppose it is no normal body shop at this point! If you're ever in LA and into cars, I'd recommend checking it out.
All of the people there are super friendly and will answer any of your questions - as long as you don't ask who a vehicle belongs to! Although if you ask the questions correctly, they may accidentally reveal something with their expressions.